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Sunday, March 31, 2013

If the Phillies would have won at least one of their ‘On Deck’ series games at home in Philadelphia it would have made me feel better overall about their Spring Training season. They didn’t win against the Toronto Blue Jays and that again sends signals that this team just isn’t ready to go out there and be the conquering heroes of the NL East.
Looking back at Spring Training now that it is over we see a few players had a good Spring and a few didn’t. Kind of 50/50 almost like the Phillies season record last year, not great but not bad.

Here is a look at the Phillies players on offense and who turned in the best numbers: (not including yesterday's game)

Zolecki reports that if Halladay finishes the season with 30-32 starts, expect Halladay's ERA to be higher than it was at the end of 2012, which was 4.49, expect him to be around that same number this year.

Wednesday, March 27, 2013

It’s hard to believe, but the 2013 season will be the 10th season for the Phillies stadium that opened in 2004. I remember looking over at the new construction site in 2003 from the Veterans Stadium mezzanine where there used to be that massive bowl of a stadium and thinking, “There’s the future of baseball in Philly.”

Think back to the 2003 season when Larry Bowa was the manager of the Phillies, and he managed the Phils to a 86-76 record to bring out the Vet’s glory and for the next year welcome the team into the new stadium. The only starter still on the Phillies is Jimmy Rollins from the 2003 team, and Chase Utley had just been called up for 43 games with the team both players were 24 years old in 2003.

The last 9 full seasons at Citizen’s Bank Park were very good as far as Phillies seasons go. We’ve practically owned the NL East for a long time, and even went to the World Series twice, winning it all in 2008. That doesn't happen all that much, it's been only the second time the Phillies have won the World Series in the history of the franchise, the other coming in 1980.

Citizens Bank, the company, paid $2.3M per season for naming rights for the stadium and signed a 25 year deal starting with the 2004 season and it runs to 2029. One thing that has remained consistent with the Phillies home is that it hasn’t changed names like so many other venues have when the group that bought the naming rights for a stadium had merged or been acquired in other means.

Just how good have the Phillies been since moving to CBP? Let’s look at the Phils record of the past nine seasons:

Tuesday, March 26, 2013

The Phillies haven't been making all that great of moves lately and perhaps that lack of insight is showing in the ballclub. One of the most exciting players to come out of the Philllies minors should have been travelling with this team to Atlanta to open the season with this team, but somehow the most obvious decision was reversed.

That player that should have opened the season with the team of course would be Darin Ruf. Ruf proved to the Phillies that he was more than ready to play baseball in the big leagues but somehow the easiest decision that should have been made by the Phillies brass was flubbed.

Here is a player that has blazed a trail and set it on fire, he only broke Ryan Howard's minor league home run record last year, earned the nickname 'Babe Ruf', and then turned around and went into winter ball just a few months ago and smacked a whole bunch of home runs to prove his is no fluke.

How about 2 game ending walk-off home runs in the past week or so down in Florida that Ruf hit to give the Phillies 2 wins? You think this guy can play some baseball? What more does a player have to do in the Phillies farm system?

You have to believe that the Phillies are trying to 'do the right thing' by Ruf with sending him down to the minors but there is just no real justification in it, it's just plain dumb. The reason was so he can play more outfield, hell, he could do that right down at Citizen's Bank Park, and it wouldn't be the worst thing to happen to this team in the past year or two.

The way this team has mismanaged it's younger players is pretty poor, imagine the Phillies with a guy like Mike Trout in their system, he wouldn't the the light of day in the majors until he was nearing 30 years old.

Friday, March 22, 2013

I don't think I like Shane Victorino as much as I did before he slammed a 3 run bases loaded triple against Michael Stutes, (is there any middle relief on the Phillies), and it contributed to a 6-1 Phils loss last night vs. the Red Sox.

Here's a video on the signing of Shane Victorino in case you missed it from back in December.

BTW, Shane hasn't been doing all that well in Spring Training this year, you wouldn't know it by last night's performance but here is his numbers so far on the Spring Training 2013 season:

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